Security Clearance Jobs Blog

Expedited security screening at airports may be possible for individuals with security clearances, said TSA Administrator John Pistole.  In an address before George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute, Pistole said that he was working with the director of national intelligence to explore the possibility.

Frequent fliers are no strangers to the long lines and invasive procedures that have made the TSA the subject of public complaint and congressional oversight. Several months ago the TSA offered some relief, with the PreCheck program, launched in four U.S. airports under limited use. Frequent fliers were given the option to undergo prescreening and in return, get some of their travel dignity back. PreCheck fliers have their own airport security line and are able to keep their shoes, belt and jackets on, as well as laptops and liquids in their luggage.

There are no details on when clearance holders may be eligible for the PreCheck program, or if a new but similar program might be launched.  But even the possibility would be welcome news for security cleared professionals who spend a lot of time in airports.

“Clearly, that is a category of people that we as a society know and trust more than others,” said Pistole.

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In an OPM rule finalized this week, agencies will have to reinvestigate employees in public trust positions every five years. The rule was initially proposed in December of 2009 but has taken two years to implement.

In the review, some criticized the need for or effectiveness of the periodic investigations themselves, as well as the cause. In the decision OPM supported the executive order but established the National Agency Check with Local Agency Check (NACLC) or Periodic Reinvestigation (PRI) as the “investigative product.” The lower cost of these investigations was cited as the reason for their use… Continue Reading »

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Writing a book criticizing the way your organization does its job and writing a critical blog post linking to a classified document on Wikileaks may seem like a good idea, but it has proven a good way to get your security clearance suspended for Peter Van Buren.

Van Buren, a State Department foreign service officer, recently published the book We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, all while still working in the human resources department at the Department of State, and holding a top secret security clearance. Van Buren has been critical of his employer in several interviews and blog postings, including an Aug. 25 post which linked to a 2009 Wikileaks released cable about the sale of military parts to Libyan president Muammar Qadaffi, who was killed this week… Continue Reading »

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While we often talk broadly about the time it takes to process security clearances, the investigation itself is the heart of security clearance adjudication. After several years of working to prevent duplication of efforts and the lengthy delays in transferring clearances between agencies or reinvestigating previously investigated individuals, the new guidelines seem to take a step backward.

The Office of Personnel Management’s revised standards use a five-tiered system with six types of investigations and two types of reinvestigations. The new standards don’t allow for an easy transition between public trust and national security positions, largely due to different application forms used. Moral of the story? Prepare for perhaps even lengthier delays when transferring between agencies with different clearance applications, or when applying for higher levels of clearance.

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This week a budget analyst at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency filed a lawsuit against the NGA, seeking reinstatement of his Top Secret/SCI security clearance, it having been revoked after his union with an Islamic women with a number of affiliations with groups of “non-United States origin.” In the period between Mahmoud M. Hegab’s security clearance investigation and his arrival to work with NGA, he had married Bushra Nusairat,a Fairfax citizen and U.S. resident, and a graduate of an Islamic school and current employee of Islamic Relief USA… Continue Reading »

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On September 20, 2011 the FAS (Federation of American Scientists) Secrecy News blog reported, “The number of persons who held security clearances for access to classified information last year exceeded 4.2 million — far more than previously estimated — according to a new intelligence community report to Congress.”

Although this report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) failed to provide data on several metrics required by Section 367 of the 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act, it gave a clearer picture of the cleared community and a different way of looking at the length of time it takes to get a security clearance.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 642,831 security clearances were granted.  OPM, which reportedly conducts 90% of all security clearance investigations, “provided data for FY 2010 that it had available on 34,029 security clearance determinations across the Federal Government that took longer than one year . . . .”  This suggests that about 5.9% of all cases took over 1 year.

Also of interest was the 7% clearance denial rate reported by the National Security Agency.  For comparison the average denial rate at the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals, Department of Navy, and Department of Air Force was about 1% and the denial rate at Department of Army was about 6%.

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The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has posted 4 new Federal Investigations Notices (FIN) on their website all dated August 29, 2011.

FIN 11-04—“Continuous Efforts to Align with Reciprocity Goals and Timeliness Standards.” This FIN fully implements interim adjustments made to National Investigative Standards by a August 2010 joint memorandum issued by OPM and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).  This represents a significant retreat from the 3-tier concept approved in December 2008 and fails implement one of the major purposes of Executive Order 13467.  E.O. 13467 called for a system where “Each successively higher level of investigation and adjudication shall build upon, but not duplicate, the ones below it.”  As long as suitability/fitness investigations are based on an SF85 or SF85P, there is no possibility that these investigations, no matter how current or comprehensive, can be used to grant a national security clearance, which must be based on the submission of an SF86. Continue Reading »

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We spend most of our time here talking about personnel security clearances, but facility security clearances can also pose major problems, especially for small businesses. It’s the typical chicken before the egg conundrum – you can’t do certain “cleared” work without a facility security clearance but you can’t get a facility security clearance without “cleared” work.

It’s a problem that’s causing one Puget Sound company major headaches, reports the Bremerton Patriot. Puget Sound Environmental was awarded a fixed-price contract for work at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. 18 months later they’re still awaiting their facility clearance and according to company president Carlos Moreno, that’s delaying the creation of about 200 full-time positions.

DSS provides a checklist for facility security clearances- but despite offering tips, it doesn’t offer any guarantees on how long the process will take.

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The Defense Security Service (DSS) announced that effective on August 29, 2011 as part of a Joint Personnel Adjudication System (JPAS) release update (version 4.3.0.0), the new 2010 Standard Form 86 (Questionnaire for National Security Positions) will be available for use by federal contractors using JPAS.  A new “Fair Credit Release” form will be required as part of the SF86.

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On August 3, 2011 the National Industrial Security Program Policy Advisory Committee (NISPPAC) report for March 2011 was posted at their website.  NISPPAC is made up of representatives from Government and industry and meets two to three times a year.  Meetings usually include presentations by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office (DISCO) on industrial security clearance processing metrics.  The March meeting also included a presentation by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) on the activities of the Joint Suitability and Security Clearance Reform Team… Continue Reading »

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Federal prosecutors, the district court judge and a number of others are asking how Army Reserve 2^nd Lt. Scott Allan Bennett was able to obtain a top-secret clearance and work as a defense contractor, despite a 2008 misdemeanor conviction for lying to government officials, the Tampa Bay Online reports.

The story unfolds like something from a television crime drama….or an issue of the Onion satirical newspaper. Over the past five years Bennett has repeatedly lied to government officials, bluffed his way into meetings, offices, and in his current conviction, housing at MacDill Air Force Base.

An Army Reserve spokesman stated that Bennett’s TS/SCI clearance was obtained four months prior to his entrance into the 11^th Psychological Operations Battalion (a somewhat fitting occupation for a man of Bennett’s persuasion). Almost everyone seems to agree that regardless of how it happened, allowing such a person access to sensitive information is risky for a number of reasons.

ClearanceJobs managing director Evan Lesser, quoted in the Tampa Bay Online, says that government agencies need to investigate how Bennett got his clearance, what information he had access to and what he may have done with that information.

“It seems really difficult to believe that he did not have red flags from past behavior,” Lesser said. “Should somebody be concerned about this person? I would say most definitely. He had high level clearance and access to a fair amount of classified information at a very high level. It seems like somebody dropped the ball on this particular person.”

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Our popular ongoing series allows you to ask your most complex questions regarding security clearances and our regular contributors of present and former clearance investigators and adjudicators will try to answer them. The rules are listed below. Failure to abide by them will mean your question will be deleted.

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Related Articles:

• Employment Suitability Versus Security Clearance
• Criminal Conduct and Security Clearances
• Drug Involvement and Security Clearances
• Rebutting and Appealing Security Clearance Denials
• Alcohol Consumption and Security Clearances
• Personal Finances and Security Clearances

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The Washington Times is reporting that investigators have falsified hundreds of top secret security clearance investigations, claiming to have conducted research that never took place. Court records showed 170 falsified interviews and more than 1,000 that could not be verified.

Individuals quoted in the Washington Times story report that the push to adjudicate clearances as quickly as possible, as well as the increased outsourcing of investigation specialist positions, contributed to the falsification. Others cited simple greed on the part of investigators who over-promised and weren’t able to deliver completed investigations.

“The monetary loss sustained by the government does not, nor cannot, represent the cost associated with potential compromise of our nation’s security and the trust of the American people in its government’s workforce,” said Kathy L. Dillman, associate director in charge of investigations at the Office of Personnel Management.

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The Atlantic reports (courtesy of Registan blogger Joshua Foust) of a recent job posting for agricultural specialists, security clearance required. It points to the dramatic increase in recent years for the need for individuals in a variety of occupations to hold security clearances – from executive assistants and janitorial crews working in cleared facilities to, in this case, farmers deploying to help native populations in combat zones. As the Atlantic notes there’s good reason for individuals deploying to locations like Iraq and Afghanistan to have clearances – sensitive information is on the line and individuals working alongside deployed troops and in secure facilities will most definitely have unique access.

The need for farmers with security clearances also points to the increase number of security clearances issued in recent years. The number of clearances has become so significant, in fact, that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is having trouble coming up with the exact number, according to reports from Secrecy News. While the director of the ODNI special security center stated in a Capitol Hill briefing that they would divulge the number of security clearances held sometime after the first of this year, the figure has yet to be disclosed.

Secrecy News reports that ODNI will still provide the number – but will include it as a part of the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2010, which required disclosure of the total number of clearances. All of this leads to the conclusion that keeping tabs on exactly how many security clearances have been issued and are active is easier said than done. A 2010 GAO report estimates the number at 2.5 million, but only ODNI knows for sure.

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On June 3, 2011 the Defense Security Service (DSS) posted “A Quick Reference Guide for the Newly Updated Standard Form 86” (QRG). “This QRG contains detailed field descriptions, step-by-step instructions, and a link to a printable form to help you determine what information you need to gather.” Unfortunately the printable form (July 2008 version) has not yet been updated to the March 2010 version.

This QRG provides 15 pages of detailed instructions for completing the SF86—much more comprehensive than anything previously published by DSS or the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). There are several errors and discrepancies in the QRG when compared to the internal instructions in the SF86 posted at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Reginfo.gov website.  For example the QRG indicates that only 7 years of residence information is needed for NACLC/Secret; whereas the OMB version indicates that 10 years of information is needed and make no distinction between NACLC/Secret and SSBI/Top Secret. There are also “years of coverage” discrepancies for the sections on “Where You Went to School” and “Employment Activities.” The section on “Use of Alcohol” leads off with “This section requires you to provide information regarding your illegal use of drugs. . . .” The section on “Relatives” indicates that a yes or no response is possible, and if a no response is selected the program will skip over this section and proceed to the next section.

Despite the errors, DSS should be applauded for creating the QRG. Hopefully within the weeks to come, they will correct these problems and expand on what they have already provided.

A sorely needed new capability to transmit attachments by scanning and uploading or by faxing has apparently been added to the SF86 e-QIP. This will enable to applicants to submit supporting documents directly to the Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office or other Government security office.

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